WHITESNAKE‘s Guitarist Joel Hoekstra has announced the release of his new melodic hard rock studio album “Dying To Live” (on October 16th, via Frontiers Music srl) from his electrifying new side project, JOEL HOEKSTRA’S 13. Hoekstra is best known to rock fans as the current guitarist for Whitesnake, and also known for his work with Night Ranger, Trans Siberian Orchestra and the show Rock of Ages.

Dying To Live features an all-star cast of rockers including Jeff Scott Soto (vocals), Russell Allen (vocals), Tony Franklin (bass), Vinny Appice (drums), and Derek Sherinian (keyboards), and will be available via Frontiers Music SRL on Friday, October 16th.

Hoekstra took charge of the creative process by handling the production, song writing and arranging (music and lyrics). The end result could best be described as hard, melodic, classic rock that is Dio’ish at its heaviest and Foreigner’ish at its lightest.

“Years ago, I released three solo albums that were mainly instrumental guitar music. I wanted to put something out that showcased my production, writing and playing in the genre that I’m known for, which is melodic, hard rock’’, explains Hoekstra. ‘’That’s when I decided to start what I consider to be my rock side project, Joel Hoekstra’s 13. Dying To Live focuses on struggles, potential pitfalls and the art of overcoming obstacles in life to finally arrive where we are meant to be.’’

Dying To Live was conceived before Hoekstra joined Whitesnake. David Coverdale gave the album his full blessing. “David wants his players to spread their wings and fly and of course be ready to rock when Whitesnake needs them, which obviously won’t be an issue.”

Excited how the new album turned out, Hoekstra is looking forward to the overall reaction from fans and media. “I hope everyone will give it a listen. I feel it showcases my production, writing and playing in the genre I’m best known for thèse days. The line-up of musicians is stellar! I want to thank everyone for any support in advance. Life is good!”

Enjoy an EPK for Dying To Live:

Album Tracklisting:
1.Say Goodbye To The Sun
2.Anymore
3.Until I Left You
4.Long For The Days
5.Scream
6.Never Say Never
7.Changes
8.The Only Way To Go
9.Dying To Live
10.Start Again
11.What We Believe
12.Kill or Be Killed (Bonus Track digital download)

THE ANSWER overcame the recent US Visa system crash and made it to the USA in time for their tour with WHITESNAKE! The band’s new single ‘Gone Too Long’ will be released July 31st 2015 following the North American Tour and in anticipation of European Festivals and a special one off London Planet Rock London Borderline show on July 29th.

The band had to re route their US flights at the last minute and at a considerable cost in order to secure a P1 visa waiver in Dublin, Ireland before heading to Dallas where they made it by the skin of their teeth. Lead singer Cormac Neeson commented:
“Our first gig in Dallas was one of my favorite gigs of all time. It may well have been an outpouring of pent up emotion having nearly missed our tour because of the visa crash or maybe it was because this was our first gig on American soil in more than 5 years. Either way it rocked hard and we had the gig of our lives!!”

‘Gone Too Long’ has been mixed for radio by Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters / Biffy Clyro) and is presently impacting at US Active Rock radio. The track will be released internationally on July 31st 2015 via Napalm / Essential / Universal. With over 300,000 sales worldwide, The Answer are one of the hardest working British artists in rock, having performed over 200 shows worldwide in the last eighteen months.

Rock icons WHITESNAKE continue to show why they are a musical force to be reckoned with. The Purple Album was released last week via Frontiers Music Srl and has stormed the charts around the globe. In the US, the latest release landed at #6 on the Top Current Hard Music Albums, #15 on Top Current Rock Albums, #43 on Top Current Albums and #83 on the Billboard Top 200 Charts. Around the globe, you can also find The Purple Album at #18 in the United Kingdom, #9 in Finland, #17 in the Czech Republic, #11 in Switzerland, #34 in Norway, #18 in Sweden (#1 on the Hard Rock Charts in Sweden), #13 in Germany, #24 in the Netherlands and #8 in Japan.

“The Snakes & I are thrilled with the incredibly positive response to The Purple Album. Our sincere thanks to ALL for the amazing support we’re receiving for the album & The Purple Tour!!” exclaims David Coverdale.

The Purple Album is a re-imagination of classic songs from David Coverdales time as the lead singer for Deep Purples Mark 3 and Mark 4 studio albums. The album is currently available on Amazon in a deluxe edition format (http://geni.us/WSPurpleDLXamz) featuring 2 bonus tracks, 4 music videos and a Behind the Scenes feature on the recording of the album. A standard edition is also available and can be ordered here: http://radi.al/WSPurpleREGamaz and digitally via iTunes at: http://radi.al/WSPurpleiTunes.

Whitesnake is also planning to release a limited edition box set of The Purple Album on June 30th. The box set includes the deluxe edition of the CD alongside a 180-gram, 2 LP vinyl version, a poster and sticker as well as a limited edition lithograph and can be ordered here: http://radi.al/WSLtdEditionBoxSet. The 180-gram vinyl, also available as a stand-alone piece and can be ordered here: http://radi.al/WSPurpleLPamaz.

Whitesnake have released four different videos (a combination of traditional music videos and static YouTube clips) for songs from The Purple Album. Added together, these videos total have received over a million plays and counting, showing that fans new and old still love this iconic material, band and vocalist. From the opening notes of the classic track Burn, to album closer Stormbringer, Whitesnake are back and better than ever. Songs like Lady Double Dealer, Soldier of Fortune and Sail Away are given a new energy in the very capable hands of the current Whitesnake line-up featuring David Coverdale on vocals, Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra on guitars, Michael Devin on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. A video for the first single Stormbringer can be seen here: http://youtu.be/Xk9wWj8Wh30. The track Burn can be heard at: https://youtu.be/q7UxOrBb0Is and Lay Down Stay Down can be heard at: https://youtu.be/I7_j7Qn2FSs. The video for Soldier Of Fortune premiered on CraveOnline.com (http://www.craveonline.com/music/articles/853381-video-premiere-whitesnake-return-stoic-soldier-fortune), and is now live and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/z69sxDq3Ybc.

Whitesnake will also be hitting the road this month in support of The Purple Album. The upcoming world tour kicks off in the U.S. on May 28th in Airway Heights, WA. The 42-city trek runs through the summer wrapping up on August 16th in St. Charles, MO. The tour will be making stops in Las Vegas, NV; Beverly Hills, CA; Atlantic City, NJ; and Orlando, FL among others. The band will be performing songs from The Purple Album as well as countless hit songs from their catalogue including Here I Go Again, Is This Love, and Still Of The Night. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and more information and purchase links can be found at: http://whitesnake.com/WS2013/features/purplealbum/index_dates.php.

Whitesnake was formed in England in 1978 by Coverdale. The band has released multi-platinum selling albums throughout the years and have been known for hits such as Slide It In, Here I Go Again, Still Of The Night and Is This Love.

Whitesnake – The Purple Album. First things first – Deep Purple form part of the hallowed original trio of Hard Rock / Heavy Metal forefathers, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and any mention of revisiting their sacrosanct Seventies masterworks is basically always going to be viewed as foulest heresy by some true believers among the Rock flock! Many bands have gone down the path of re-recording classic tracks, and it’s always controversial, so much so that in “The Purple Album’s” sleevenotes, David Coverdale makes it very clear that these versions are in no way intended to compare or compete with the originals, it was simply a case of Mr Coverdale wanting to play them with Whitesnake after already having begun to rework the material for a projected reunion with Ritchie Blackmore that never happened. As a fan of the original Purple platters, I really enjoyed what DC and the new ‘Snake line-up (with Reb Beach moving more to the forefront, partnered by new guitarist Joel Hoekstra (ex-Night Ranger), and former member Tommy Aldridge back behind the kit) have done on this album, approaching gems from “Burn”, “Stormbringer” and “Come Taste The Band” from their contemporary perspective.

In the electronic press kit for the record, David mentions that the guitar tones chosen were deliberately less Metallic than on Whitesnake’s recent output, to avoid this being nothing more than an amped up, steroid-pumped bulldoze through the classics, with the possible exception of “Stormbringer”, delivered here clad in full Metal jacket; released as a preview track, it attracted some flack, as expected, but this version, intended in its current form to be an all-guns-blazing grand finale, isn’t representative of “The Purple Album” in its entirety. These reworkings are far subtler and more closely aligned with their predecessors than the extreme makeovers the “1987” line-up applied to earlier ‘Snake faves “Here I Go Again” and “Crying In The Rain”.

Personally, I really enjoyed all 13 of ‘em, and if you take the album simply as a chance to hear one of the co-writers of a cache of vintage Hard Rock masterworks performing them passionately, with the aid of a band of top-flight musicians who respectfully filter them through their combined talents, then this collection offers a very enjoyable way to visit some old musical friends in a different setting. If anything, “The Purple Album” serves as an effective reminder of just how many good songs were produced during Mr Coverdale’s three-three year stint with Deep Purple, making me want to go back and listen to those 70s records again, and it’s great to hear the man himself still evidently revelling in his fine heritage, and the other ‘Snakes relishing getting their teeth into it all.

WHITESNAKE have unleashed the video for ‘Soldier of Fortune’ from their upcoming 12th studio album, premiered exclusively on Crave.

The song comes from “The Purple Album”, a re-imagination of classic songs from David Coverdale’s time as the lead singer for Deep Purple’s Mark 3 and Mark 4 studio albums. The collection will see a May 18th release via Frontiers Music SRL, with pre-orders available now on iTunes, as well as Amazon in a deluxe edition format. Fans who pre-order the album via iTunes will receive instant downloads of “Burn”, “Stormbringer”, “Lay Down Stay Down” and “Soldier Of Fortune.”

Check out the video premiere of Whitesnake’s poignant ballad “Soldier of Fortune”:

Whitesnake is also planning to release a limited edition box set of “The Purple Album” on June 30th. The box set includes the deluxe edition of the CD alongside a 180-gram, 2 LP vinyl version, a poster and sticker as well as a limited edition lithograph. The 180-gram vinyl, also available as a stand-alone piece On June 30th.

The band will also be hitting the road this month in support of “The Purple Album”. The upcoming world tour kicks off in the U.S. on May 28th in Airway Heights, WA. The 42-city trek runs through the summer wrapping up on August 16th in St. Charles, MO. The tour will be making stops in Las Vegas, NV; Beverly Hills, CA; Atlantic City, NJ; and Orlando, FL among others. The band will be performing songs from The Purple Album as well countless hit songs from their catalog including “Here I Go Again,” “Is This Love,” and “Still of The Night”. Tickets for all shows are on sale now.

40-year-old Michele Luppi first started getting into music at the tender age of just 5, thanks to his fascination with the hugely charismatic and popular Kiss.

Over the years he soon discovered the Music he truly loves; bands like Whitesnake, Winger, Mr. Big and House Of Lords drastically went deep and forged his Musical Roots.

He continued to take an active interest in music throughout his school years, focusing on musical studies as soon as possible and ultimately obtaining a diploma in the Vocal Institute of Technology (VIT) program from the Hollywood Musicians Institute in 1998.

In 1994 he formed a band called Mr. Pig, which, with a series of extensive tours, soon became one of the most popular live acts in Italy.

Around the same time he started working as a singer, musician, composer and producer with a range of different musical projects. In the past 12 years as a professional musician Michele has worked with a host of live acts and in studio sessions with artists and bands including Reb Beach, Eric Martin, Gregg Giuffria, Maurizio Solieri, George Lynch, Doug Aldrich, Ian Paice and many others.

In 1997 he started teaching, developing his own unique method for voice production that proved to be invaluable in the world of genres derived from Rock (Michele’s main focus) and also resulted in an invitation in October of 2007 from renowned auditive system and speech specialist Dr. Franco Fussi to participate in an international convention in the role of opinion leader, alongside speech therapists, singers, and many top professionals in the field.

Apart from teaching voice art in top Italian Music Schools and holding private lessons in his own studio, Michele has become one of Italy’s most sought after voice teachers and has organised a series of workshops based around his incredibly successful Voice Control method. At the time of writing more than 2500 students have benefited from learning Michele’s techniques.

Between 2002 and 2003 he participated in Umberto Tozzi’s world tour as a vocalist and keyboard player, taking part night after night in concerts with audiences in the thousands at many top venues such as the Paris Olympia, Les Palais Des-Beaux-Arts in Brussels, all the main theatres in France, Italy, and several other countries. He has also been on many music and variety shows on the main Italian TV channels (RAI and Mediaset) to promote Umberto Tozzi’s “Best Of” album, which went Platinum.

Michele wrote the material on the various albums, singing all the parts and recording his tracks in his private studio (MiLu’s RockLab) where he also carries out voice track production and recording for many other bands.

In August 2003 he became a full time member of Vision Divine. “Stream Of Consciousness” (2004), the “Stage Of Consciousness” DVD (2005), “The Perfect Machine” (2005) and “The 25th Hour”(2007) have all become absolute milestones in the genre and key albums in the collections of the band’s melodic metal fans, thanks also to excellent promotion and distribution, handled by several of the top labels in the genre, including Scarlet Records, King Records (Japan) and Metal Blade. The band performed as the headliner act on several Italian tours and as the opening act for Dream Theater, Nightwish, Sebastian Bach, Helloween, Children Of Bodom and many other big international names. Michele toured with VD many countries to support the Albums: Japan, US, Austria, China, Taiwan and all the main Latin American capital cities.

Over the years Michele released three AOR albums: “Strive” (2005), which climbed high on the Japanese charts, “Los Angeles” (2007), and “Neverland” (2009) for Frontiers Records. Both albums were very well acclaimed in the melodic rock scene. The first “Los Angeles” features Gregg Giuffria (one of Michele’s all-time musical idols) on keyboards. Apart from reaping the same excellent reviews received by the earlier works, this album greatly increased Michele’s international profile.

2008 sees the birth of Killing Touch, with Michele writing the material and producing the debut album “One Of A Kind” (Scarlet/Audioglobe, 2009), which is scheduled for release at the beginning of May in Japan on Marquee Records, just a few days ahead of the planned release date in Italy and the rest of the world.

In 2009 he co-wrote the songs for Maurizio Solieri’s first solo Album. The band opened for Deep Purple (all 6 dates) and for AC/DC at Friuli Stadium in Udine.

In 2010 Michele was chosen to sing and play Keys in a Major Rock Event in Bologna: he shared the stage with big names like Yngwie Malmsteen, Glenn Hughes, Gregg Bissonette, Derek Sherinian, Neil Murray among others. Later that year he joined Thaurorod, a Finnish Metal Band for the “Power Of Metal” European Tour with Symphony X and Nevermore and some major European Festivals.

In 2011 he became the singer of Secret Sphere and released the year after “Portrait Of A Dying Heart”, released in Japan by Warner Bors. An European Tour followed to support the Album, including a show at Wacken Open Air 2013 which DVD release include 3 songs from the band. After a successful Tour in Japan, “the band released A Time Never Come”, a classic Album from Secret Sphere completely re-recorded and arranged with the current line up.
Michele’s currently working on his solo Album and always touring with MLB (Michele Luppi Band), playing bass and singing all songs from all his previous Albums/Projects along with some AOR/Hard Rock classics.